


Safe and Home. Safe and Home.

by DustySoul



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Incredible Hulk - All Media Types
Genre: Mistaken for Being in a Relationship, Other, POV Outsider, Polyamory
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-14
Updated: 2015-09-14
Packaged: 2018-04-16 08:06:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,117
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4617837
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DustySoul/pseuds/DustySoul
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Steve realizes, standing a couple feet back from Betty Ross and Tony Stark, that he doesn’t even know how long Dr. Banner has been gone. He also doesn’t know when Ross and Stark made the switch from waiting for Banner’s “return to the tower” to “coming home”.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Safe and Home. Safe and Home.

**Author's Note:**

> Sadly, not for anything in particular. I'm still not sure how I feel about this one, but I was having a hard time leaving it alone and giving myself space from it.
> 
> So... I don't know. I wanted to share.

They are, all three of them, at the Amtrak train station waiting for Bruce Banner to arrive. And Steve realizes, standing a couple feet back from Betty Ross and Tony Stark, that he doesn’t even know how long Dr. Banner has been gone. He also doesn’t know when Ross and Stark made the switch from waiting form Banner’s “return to the tower” to his “coming home”.

He watches them watching the tracks. They’re standing shoulder to shoulder, arm’s barely brushing. Dr. Ross checks the train schedule, over and over, then looks to the platform sign, making sure she’s in the right place. After a few minutes of observing, Steve realizes he’s waiting for Stark to check his watch.

Steve is, of course, also waiting for him to make some advance on Ross. He know’s Stark’s reputation. He didn’t even need to look him up on google (where it seemed every other search result was some “scandal” or inappropriate act of “PDA”). It feels like he’s been waiting weeks for some confirmation of his suspicion.

He’d known there were men who wooed women whose boyfriend, fiancé, hell, even _husband_ were off fighting in Europe. He’d heard the whispers, but he never knew the men involved. Not well.

 He had known one woman to be unfaithful. (She’d been so desperately lonely.) And he didn’t know what to make of it - didn’t like to think of it.

Yet here is Tony Stark - who, as Ms. Potts once told him, “is a walking sexual harassment lawsuit”. Stark, who sits pressed up into Ross’ personal space on movie nights, who takes her out to dinner, and who buys her flowers on her birthday. Stark, who banters and flirts with Ross as easy and natural as breathing.

He knows very little about Tony Stark. He’s willing and free to admit that. It seems, though, that he’s wrong about what little he does know. Did know. It’s all at odds to the image he has of the men who go after “taken” women.

Especially since he doesn’t seem to love her.

It all leaves Steve unsettled.

Sometimes, when he’s walking by the labs, he seems them sitting side by side in the dark, staring at one of JARVIS’ projections. More often than not, one of them will have an arm slung around the other’s shoulders. He’s seen Ross rest her head against Stark’s chest.

He’d asked once, what they’d been looking at.

 

“Bruce.”

“JARVIS’ best estimates for Bruce’s position.” Tony corrected.

 

And… it hadn’t make sense.

Not then, and not now, waiting on this train platform for Ross’ man to return from… abroad.

 

The train arrives with a roar and the platform is swarmed with people. Dr. Banner is the last off - carrying just a back pack, more threads than fabric.

Ross rushes forward to hug him.

He embraces her like he hasn’t seen a single person in years.

Steve wonders how accurate that is.

He can here their conversation, Ross’ voice muffled against Banner’s chest.

“I’ve missed you.”

“I’ve missed you, too.”

“Tony gave me a job, invited me to live in your superhero frat house.”

Banner’s laugh is half a sob.

“You have no idea.” Ross tells him, “I’m having ramen noodles for dinner almost every night. And the night’s I’m not, it’s because I stayed up working until three. And I have the worst lab partner. I swear, it’s just like grad school.”

Banner lets her go. His eyes are shining and he smiles down at Ross. It’s a smile that redefines the world. Especially when he turns it on Stark.

“Do we hug?” He mouths.

Stark nods and practically barrels into him. 

Ross steps a side, tears run down her cheeks but Steve’s never seen her happier.

“I had to get a little help. Getting you to come home this time.”

“I’m sorry I was gone for so long.”

“Are you going to leave again?”

Banner just hugs Stark harder and shakes his head against the playboy’s shoulder.

When his grip loosens Ross returns to his side and he wraps and arm around both their necks. It’s not a three sided hug, because Ross and Stark are barely touching.

The liminal space between Stark’s and Ross’ bodies seems far less intimate now than it did before Banner’s arrival.

Steve wonders at it, thinking back to the times he’s seen Ross and Stark together.

 

He’d been making his dinner while they ate in the communal kitchen across from each other at the counter. Ross had said, “I miss him.” And Stark had said, “You know, I think you say that everyday.” And JARVIS had announced the time, temperature, an whether in Venezuela.

Another time, he’d walked by their lab and over heard Ross say, “You know, I don’t think I’ve thought about him for a week. Not once.”

“You say that like somebody died.” Stark replied.

“I suppose I’m in mourning. Every time I see him go, I worry I’ll never see him again.”

“He seems so much closer here, does he?”

“Yeah. It's hard to believe he's on another continent. There's his desk. There's his work. When the accident happened, they'd wiped his computer and took away any trace he'd ever been there before I'd even gotten out of the hospital. It feels like he should just stroll on in here with a coffee, back from break. Any minute now."

"Don't hold your breathe."

She'd laughed. "It's too late for that. Years too late for that... what's with the look?"

Stark had shrugged and turned away.

"Tell me about Manhattan, won't you?"

They shared a look and Stark had seemed... afraid? Like Ross had reached into the center of him and unearthed his heart for all to see. He didn't tell her about Manhattan.

 

The hug finally ends.

Banner wipes his face, then runs his hands through his hair.

"Welcome home." Stark says.

Banner nods.

"Do you want to get dinner?" Ross asks.

"Yeah... Some place American." He says, his voice sounds wrecked, "Disgustingly American."

"I always crave a cheese burger after a long, traumatic trip."

"It wasn't traumatic, Tony." Banner says. He chuckles.

"Maybe not for you."

He kisses Stark. It's slow and sweet, a gentle give in take. 

Steve is very grateful he seems to have been completely forgotten about.

The kiss does not last nearly as long as the hug . When it's over, Banner looks to Ross and says, "Where you traumatized by my absence?"

She steps closer to him, "I wouldn't know. I'm to use to it by now to tell."

His face falls.

"It's fine." She assures him of this with a kiss of her own. "You're safe and you're home. That's all that matters."

**Author's Note:**

> Feel free to message or follow me on tumblr at dusty-soul.tumblr.com


End file.
